The hearing on the Americans with Disabilities Act

[TayTay]

So, I know I have been uneven, at best, in checking in with folks here, but I thought I would give you an update on something you might find interesting.

I have this friend who is blind. He lost his sight due to complications from Type II Diabetes. It happened slowly over a number of years and Bob and his wife, Karen, acclimated to it over the years. (Bob is one of the funniest and liveliest people I know, btw. There is not even a smattering of self pity in the guy.)

So, long about 8 months ago, Bob and his wife had a long, leisurely and quite fun lunch with my husband and me. The topic of access to technology came up. Bob, it turns out, likes to sit in and "watch" TV with his wife. It plays like a good radio show and he enjoys it. However, much of TV is now special effects and visual razzle-dazzle. This means that Bob has to rely on his wife (or daughters when they are home) to describe what has occurred at times in a show. This is all kinds of annoying to those watching TV with Bob as it is annoying to have to stop watching TV and describe the action and you lose your place, miss dialog, and, well you get the idea.

There is an technology, some 20 years old now, called DVS or Descriptive Video Service. An actor describes what is going on in a TV show and that information is encrypted into the broadcast. A special headset can be worn that downloads this information to a user and allows them to follow what is going on. Again, this is old technology. (Let me skip several paragraphs of sheer wonk by referring you to the page on DVS at WGBH.org TV: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/services/description/ )

Back to my friend. Great Technology. Problem is, none of the big players are offering the service. You can't get DVS through the cable or satellite providers. So, there is this great and greatly needed technology out there that would be a deep help to visually impaired people, and their families, only subscribers can't get it. Not good.

I mentioned that I used to work for the good Senior Senator from MA and that he heads the subcommittee for Commerce that deals with Technology, the Internet and Communications. Hey, saith my savvy friend, do you think Sen. Kerry's office would help figure out why this DVS is not available to anyone? Do you think he could investigate why this technology, which does exist, is not getting to the folks who could use it?

Long, long story short, or shorter, Sen. Kerry's office held this hearing yesterday on the Americans with Disabilities Act and what impact it has had in it's 20 year history. Great stuff. Good things have happened. More good things could happen. The DVS service was mentioned, as it pertains to a blind veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars. My friend has heard back from the good Senators office on this issue as well. Sen. Kerry will take it up with the cable and satellite offices and try and get to the bottom of why this now "old" tech is not available.

I am beyond happy on this. So is my friend. So are his friends at MA Association for the Blind, the Perkins School and many rippling orgs that deal with access issues for the disabled. And if this gets done, it gets done nationally, not just here in MA.

I am a little "verklempt" today. This took months of "activism" and being a pain-in-the-butt. But a very good thing might come of it and I am humbled to have played even my tiny part. Good people working together can indeed do great things.

Thanks for listening.

[TayTay]

1. From the opening statement at the ADA hearing

Sen. Kerry: "It is wrong that a soldier blinded in combat can come home and not be able to fully access at least some of what is on his television, including emergency information. "

Yeah, I agree and thanks Senator!

[karynnj]

2. You are incredible, Tay

That technology seems a really wonderful thing for people who are visually impaired. The hearing sounds like it was very productive and useful.

[TayTay]

4. Thanks, but...

LOL! (LOL because us New Englanders frustrate the heck out of people by not being able to accept compliments. It's a Mass thing, bear with me. Hence the LOL!, because New Englanders can be a silly bunch to deal with sometimes.)

Anyway, I love these types of scenarios. Someone tells you they have a problem. You tell them, gee, somebody ought to do something about that, especially since it doesn't involve inventing new technology, just implementing what already exists. Then, you put the original claimant in touch with them that have the power to help them. Add 7-9 months of talks, a subcommittee chair, some kanoodling and being a pain-in-the-arse to the right folks and, presto-chango, something is in the works.

Damn, is this a great country or what? Anyway, I did but little here. Just added some of my native pain-in-the-arse-ness to the mix and helped "do" a connection. The glory belongs to those who are doing the real work here.

(And now you know some of what has been keeping me busy and away from this group lately. Well that and family obligations with my Mom, job stuff, kids home from college, and general "stuff." My apologies to all for not being here much lately. I read every day.)

[Luftmensch067]

3. Congrats and thank you for your part in making this happen, Tay!

Here's link to archived webcast:http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hearings&ContentRecord_id=4c38a45b-a9f2-4458-a4d3-cb22c48714fd&ContentType_id=14f995b9-dfa5-407a-9d35-56cc7152a7ed&Group_id=b06c39af-e033-4cba-9221-de668ca1978a

Edited to add: hearing actually starts about 19:46 into the video.

[beachmom]

5. This is a great story, Tay Tay!! Thanks for letting us know.

I actually was listening to NPR and all of this is true for newer technologies as well -- as in the internet. Now I see Sen. Kerry is on it:

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/100139-lawmakers-begin-push-to-extend-internet-services-to-disabled

Lawmakers want to put legislation helping the deaf communicate with speakers at the other end of an iPhone and providing closed captioning for videos on websites like Hulu on the fast track.

At a hearing Wednesday on a bill meant to extend Internet services to the disabled, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said he aimed to win congressional approval by the end of the year.

Kerry’s bill would impose a number of new requirements for the FCC to impose on various technologies. It is meant to update the Americans with Disabilities Act so that the latest technologies are in line with that bill’s fundamentals.

Also, I want to highly recommend podcasts to your friend. There is so much great stuff available absolutely free. And something about it makes me feel like it is a throwback to the '30s when everyone just listened to the radio. Audio is a completely different way of experiencing news, commentary, and entertainment. For me, it's a great way to make doing domestic chores less drudgery. I listen while I work. But for the blind -- well, it would be fabulous.

Not mentioned in that article is that there is technology that can read Google search text back very quickly. However, not every website has this software. That would help the blind as well.

[TayTay]

6. The biggest problem is "who is in charge here"

There is a lot of technology out there in the ether that could benefit disabled people. There are geniuses at work even now coming up with incredible ways to help those people with disabilities have access to all the modern conveniences.

The problem is finding someone to take charge of implementing these changes. This DVS is a case in point. The technology exists, see the WGBH website I linked to in the OP. However, none of the broadcast networks or cable broadcast networks or service providers (cable or satellite) or studios producing the content would take action to get the DVS out there for consumers. They were passing the buck saying you have to call someone else to get this implemented.

There is a function for government. Sometimes you need someone powerful to step in and be the cop on the beat. This is what Sen. Kerry is trying to do. He is using the power of his office to call everyone to the carpet and instruct them to stop passing the buck and get this technology out there where the disabled can get it and use it. The service will not be implemented without someone out there kicking some butt and demanding action.

The levers of government are difficult to manipulate. Action is slow to happen because this involves finding the people who understand what is going on, understand the players and understand just where pressure has to be applied. This is the process in action.

If you will permit me a moment of sheer sentimentality, I can't help but think of Sen. Kennedy at this moment. He was a champion of the disabled who worked tirelessly to help ALL Americans move forward. It makes me both happy and a little "verklempt" to know that someone is carrying on his legacy of caring for those who could so easily get lost in an unfeeling world. Makes me proud of MA and our legacy of sending good people to DC, despite recent events.

[YvonneCa]

7. This is what we elect our leaders to do. ..

... "There is a function for government. Sometimes you need someone powerful to step in and be the cop on the beat. This is what Sen. Kerry is trying to do. He is using the power of his office to call everyone to the carpet and instruct them to stop passing the buck and get this technology out there where the disabled can get it and use it. The service will not be implemented without someone out there kicking some butt and demanding action."

Sadly, many elected leaders are not as good at it as Senator Kerry is. I think he goes out of his way to set up communication in a way that provides him with good information from constituents. AND...this is important...he actually cares enough to take action and follow through. Some of our elected folks don't do that.

For your role in this, and all your other successes...congratulations! What a privilege to be able to make a difference. I hope you feel GREAT about that. :)

[beachmom]

10. I also like these "small things politicians do" stories.

I am a sucker for this kind of thing. It usually gets little publicity and no shouting matches on cable. Nobody on DailyKos is outraged about it. It is hidden. And it's really the point of wanting to go through grueling elections and bear the insults and frustrations. It's nice that we can find about these things once in a while. It's not like the Globe will cover it, or most of the big newspapers. Not Sexy Enough. Yet extremely important in changing lives . . .

[ProSense]

8. Wonderful story.

Thanks for sharing this Tay. Hope all is well.

I'm glad Senator Kerry is addressing this.

[blm]

9. it must feel wonderful when people who CAN help truly listen to you and care what you have to say.

congratulations

[Inuca]

11. Wonderful and heartwarming

as others have said, this is not a "sexy" issue, it's not something that will make the front page or bring you in front of cameras, but dealing and trying to solve issues of this king is what being a serious politician is all about. That's why it's called to "serve", but for way too many politicians it means "to be served".

At the community college where I work now there is a blind student that I chatted with a couple of times during a cigarette break. He told me a bit about the reader programs he is using, quite amazing. If I am not mistaken, I think he is even taken online classes!

[beachmom]

12. I am going to piggyback on Tay's story here to vent about something I read:

It is directly related to the basic topic of this thread.

Here is Neal Boortz the talk radio Libertarian out of Georgia on Saturday:

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/neal-boortz-bureaucracy-leaves-586795.html

I wasn’t the first brainiac out there who thought of Kindle’s replacing expensive school textbooks. A few colleges — Princeton and Arizona State, for example — decided last year to try a little experiment with e-book readers. The motives seemed honorable.

First, it would be a lot cheaper for the student. College textbooks can be very costly.

Then there’s the added advantage of appealing to the environmental sensibilities (if that’s what you want to call it) of the college students by not killing so many trees to print books.

All seemed rosy with the e-book reader until that letter arrived from the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. Now pause a moment here and see if you can figure out where the civil rights violation might be.

Enough time. Let’s cut to the chase. The problem here was the Americans with Disabilities Act. The National Federation of the Blind doesn’t like the Kindle, you see, because it has buttons. If you’re blind you can’t figure out which button to push. Now bear in mind that the Kindle program at these schools was voluntary.

If you didn’t want to use the Kindle, fine! Buy the book! That wasn’t good enough for the Justice Department. To Thomas Perez, the Obama-appointed chief of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, it was “the importance of full and equal educational opportunities for everyone.”

The final agreement? Until blind people can use the Kindle, nobody can. So, no money saving opportunity there!

Perez, by the way, now has his sights on the Internet.

Be very afraid.

Okay, how many ways does this article make me mad?

1. Let's start with throwing the Helen Kellers of the world under the bus. Hey, let's pretend we're bashing the government when really we're saying "tough luck" to those disabled.

2. No responsibility is thrown on Amazon.com for failing to make their machine useable for the blind. Apparently, corporations can do whatever they feel like, and God forbid the government steps in to uphold the LAW, as in the Americans with Disabilities law. Corporations should be above the law at all times. That's what Libertarians like Neal Boortz think.

3. He is being highly misleading saying it was "voluntary". Um, if the sighted students could use the way cool new device and blind students were stuck lugging the paper books around that is totally unequal.

4. He makes mistakes in his column. He says the problem was the "buttons". Wrong.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10434512-1.html

The Justice Department's civil rights division has been exploring whether Kindles and other e-readers violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Last year, two organizations representing the blind--the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore and the American Council of the Blind in Arlington, Va.--sued another school, Arizona State University, after it and other universities announced pilot projects to use the handheld device in classrooms.

The federation has said that while it appreciates the Kindle's text-to-speech feature, the "menus of the device are not accessible to the blind...making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon's Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX."

Basically, a blind person could listen to a book but couldn't ACCESS the book without assistance, because they can't see menu options. The buttons are actually good.

5. This one's the kicker. The dimwit Libertarian didn't bother to do his HOMEWORK. Just last week, Amazon introduced the Kindle 3, and guess what?

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-federation-of-the-blind-commends-amazon-on-unveiling-of-new-accessible-kindle-99555314.html

National Federation of the Blind Commends Amazon on Unveiling of New Accessible Kindle

BALTIMORE, July 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) today commended Amazon on the unveiling of a new, accessible Kindle. Amazon announced Wednesday that the new Kindle will come equipped with a voice guide that reads all menu options aloud so blind and other print-disabled people can navigate the device menus.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "We commend Amazon on the unveiling of a new Kindle that blind and print-disabled people can use. In order to compete in today's digital society, blind and print-disabled people must be able to access the same reading technologies as the sighted. The National Federation of the Blind has long been urging Amazon to make its reading device accessible, and we are pleased that our efforts have come to fruition."

In June 2009 the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from deploying Amazon's Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students. The Kindle DX featured text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud to blind students. The menus of the device were not accessible to the blind, however, making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon's Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX.

So, DUE TO the law suit and the civil rights division of the Justice Dept. upholding the Americans with Disabilities Act, Amazon worked hard to put out a device the blind can use. Doesn't Mr. Free Market think this will sell a whole lot more Kindles now that the blind can use it?

6. My last beef. There actually is a villain in this story and that is copyright holders who REFUSE to allow their books to be read out loud. For no reason other than either an author or publisher deciding they want to be greedy and demand that the audible version of their book be sold. But does Boortz give them a hard time? Nope. It's the Evil Government that we have to be afraid of.

I am not comfortable having my name out there in a Georgia newspaper so I didn't do an LTE. I will just have to be satisfied venting to all of you about this absurd fact free mean spirited unresearched blather.

[karynnj]

13. Wow - What a wonderful story when all the pieces are put together

The final product will be wonderful for the blind. Amazon deserves a huge amount of credit for this.

I wonder if the copywrite holders having sold the text have the right to disallow it being read out loud. For centuries, they sold paper books and - once sold anyone could read them silently or out loud. It might be possible for the National Federation of the Blind to file a suit to test whether after selling the content, they can limit the use.

For many books, people might still opt to buy the audio book as the reader will read it better then the text to speech would. For a textbook, that is far less an issue.

Neal Boortz, as is usually the case, is an ass. Here, the law prodded a company to increase the features of their product in a way that creates a new market for them and helps the blind. If it eventually creates a generation of high school *if they shift too) kids who carry just a Kindle rather than 4 or 5 heavy textbooks in their backpacks, it will be wonderful.

[beachmom]

14. Yes, I totally give credit to Amazon for stepping up to the plate.

It's my understanding that Apple will work to make sure the iPad is accessible to the disabled as well. That's what is so irksome about this: business people don't rant and rave -- they work to fix the problem. I am sure at first it was annoying that the university projects were put on hold. But long term, this is a win/win all the way around, except for Boortz whose misleading column is exposed to be the sham that it is.

As to the copyright holders and allowing "read to me" if you look at a book in the Kindle store, it will show whether you get audio or not. I totally agree with you that the audible versions are much better, but usually an unabridged new book can cost $20 - $30. So I think cost is a factor. I think it would behoove this blind organization to sue some publishers on this. As you said once you own a book you can do what you will with it. I don't see myself ever using "read to me" (I do once in a while get an audio book for my iPod), but it is essential for the blind. Therefore by not providing it in that format (which is easy apparently technically since it is Amazon who does the work), it is a form of discrimination to those who are unable to read the text with their eyes.

[beachmom]

15. Hey is this related?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30977_3-20018992-10347072.html

Law makes tech easier for blind, disabled (podcast)

by Larry Magid

The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, which President Obama is expected to sign on Friday, would make it easier for people who are visually impaired, deaf, or have other disabilities to access smartphones, TV programming, and other technology products. This would include making sure that devices could, when possible, be used by people who may not be able to see a screen.

The act is designed to assure that closed captioning, which is required on TV broadcasts, also applies to Web TV programming, and it would require that TV and Web-video interface devices, such as remote controls, be accessible.

http://www.nad.org/issues/civil-rights/communications-act/21st-century-act

[TayTay]

16. Yes, it is

Lots of little pebbles can start an avalanche.

I guess I'm happy to be a little pebble today.

[karynnj]

17. Congratulations!

This really will help people's lives - you should be happy.

[beachmom]

18. Hey, that's fantastic, Tay!! There is going to be a signing

ceremony for this bill at the WH today. Maybe c-span will cover it!

You rock, Tay!! I've been thinking about you, and hope things are going a bit better.

Edit: not sure about time, but it's in the afternoon:

http://twitter.com/#!/markknoller/status/26698289437

Tomorrow afternoon, Obama holds a bill signing ceremony for a measure expanding deaf & blind access to phone & internet service.

(tweet from yesterday)

Okay, 2:05 is when it is happening:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president

2:05 pm The President signs the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010
East Room

[TayTay]

19. Rep Markey from MA

was just wonderful on getting this bill advanced. He has been a longtime advocate for the disabled and this bill came together quickly (well in Congressional terms) because Rep Markey helped on the House side. Of course, the Chairman of the Sbucommitte on Communications, Technology and the Internet helped A LOT as well.

It is very gratifying to see this country move forward on this. So many people petitioned on this and I do think I helped, in the "little pebble in an avalanche" kind of way.

[ProSense]

20. There is a

Daily Kos diary posted on this by Slinkerwink


Also posted here.